Jewelry and the Method of Making

ABSTRACT

Jewelry and the method of making jewelry which includes the steps of cutting a piece of material from an existing article of clothing, most preferably a pair of denim pants, attaching a fastener to said piece of material, and adapting said fastener to be capable of removably attaching said jewelry to a portion of a person&#39;s body.

PRIORITY

This Continuation-In-Part (CIP) utility application claims priority to Provisional Application No. 61/239,661 filed on Sep. 3rd, 2009; and the “parent” utility application Ser. No. 12/655,689 filed on Jan. 6, 2010.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to jewelry and the method of making jewelry using pieces of existing articles of clothing, and fasteners capable of removably attaching said pieces of existing articles of clothing to a portion of a person's body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For thousands of years jewelry has been formed and fashioned in many ways and styles. Many different types of materials have been used. Usually, jewelry has been formed from different types of metals that require hours of forging and forming, and master hand craftsmanship. It became evident over time that forming jewelry from pre-existing materials and shapes would save enormous amounts of time, energy, material, and money.

In the past 100 years or so the art of manufacturing clothing has been mechanized, and in following, a large percentage of clothing is simply thrown away when its usefulness has been determined to have run out. With this in mind, it became evident that all this wasted material could be used to create other new and useful pieces of clothing and unique styles of jewelry. Further, it became evident that using portions of these pre-used or pre-existing articles of clothing would save time, energy, material, and money.

After further analyses and experimentation it became evident that certain portions or parts of a pair of pants were optimal to form certain types of jewelry. For example, belt loops for earrings, waist bands for wrist cuffs, and hem lines for chokers. Even further, certain types of materials seemed to perform better than others. For example, denim is strong and easily pierced for attaching other elements, such as connector and attachment members. In following, it became evident that pre-used pairs of denim pants are very useful within the method of making jewelry as set forth herein.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The instant invention relates to jewelry and the method of making jewelry. The method of making jewelry includes the steps of breaking apart an existing piece of jewelry, for example separating a fastener from an earring or a fastener from a necklace; cutting a piece of material from an existing article of clothing, for example cutting a belt loop from an existing pair of denim jeans, attaching the fastener to the piece of material, and adapting the fastener to be capable of removably attaching this new piece of jewelry to a portion of a person's body. As will be disclosed within the preferred embodiment, portions of a pair of pre-existing denim pants are used to form different types of jewelry members. In particular, belt loops can be used to form earrings, waist bands to form wrist cuffs, and hem lines to form chokers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a front view of a piece of jewelry, in this instance an earring, formed by cutting a square piece of material from an existing article of clothing, in this case denim pants, and incorporating a hook member from an existing earring as the attachment member.

FIG. 2 illustrates a view of the method of cutting a belt loop from a pair of denim pants to be used as the foundation material for an earring.

FIG. 3 illustrates a front view of earrings created using belt loops to which beads and other decorative members are attached thereto.

FIG. 4 illustrates a view of the method of cutting a waist band from a pair of denim pants to be used as the foundation material for chokers.

FIG. 5 illustrates a front view of a choker created using a waist band to which decorative members are attached thereto.

FIG. 6 illustrates other jewelry members formed from a belt loop and a zipper.

FIG. 7 illustrates existing pieces of jewelry, including an earring and a necklace.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The preferred embodiment of the inventive jewelry and method of making as set forth herein is best shown in FIGS. 1-7.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, a piece of jewelry 10, in this instance an earring, is formed by cutting a square piece of material 12 from an existing article of clothing, preferably denim pants, and incorporating an attachment member or fastener, for example hook member 13, of an existing piece of jewelry, preferably an earring 40 or a necklace 50, as the attachment member through hole 14. The square piece of material 12 is considered a foundation material. Decorative members, such as beads 15, jewels 16, buttons, snaps, studs, clasps, tags, or findings, can then be attached to the foundation material. Together, the foundation material and attached decorative members can be considered an accessory. The attachment member is also connected to the foundation material and adapted to removably attach it to a portion of a person's body, in this case a person's ear. Together, the accessory and the attachment member form a piece of jewelry.

As shown in FIG. 2, a piece of jewelry can be formed by first cutting a belt loop 20 from a pair of pre-existing denim pants 30. The belt loop is considered the foundation material. Decorative members and an attachment member can then be attached forming earrings as shown in FIG. 3.

The foundation material can be formed by a number of different members or portions of a pair of denim pants, including the belt loops, the waistband, the hem, or the pockets. Many types of decorative members can be used and attached thereto, such as beads, jewels, buttons, snaps, studs, clasps, tags, or findings to create the accessory. Finally, many types of attachment members can be used, including clips, hooks, posts, wire, and chains to hold the earrings to an ear of a person.

As shown in FIG. 4, a piece of jewelry can be formed by first cutting a waist band 25 from a pair of pre-existing denim pants 30. The waist band is then considered the foundation material. Decorative members and an attachment member can be attached forming a neck choker as shown in FIG. 5.

Jewelry formed as chokers or cuffs may use a snap, a button, pieces of hook and loop material commonly referred to as VELCRO, a toggle, a hook, or a chain to connect the two ends together for it to stay secured to a person's body. Barrettes can use a metal clip, a comb, or even a bobby pin as a base to attach the accessory thereto. Pendants and key chains may have a loop or a hole to put a hanging object such as a chain therethrough. Pendants may also have pins on the backs to attach them to clothing. Cuffs may use buttons, snaps, pieces of hook and loop material commonly referred to as VELCRO, or ties, to keep the cuff on a person's wrist. Pocket add-on accessories may use snaps, buttons, or pins to attach over an existing pocket.

Belt loops are an excellent option to form the foundation material used for making earrings, hair ties, barrettes, combs, key chains, pendants, and pins. Its function is to act as a strong and an easily perforated base for attaching other fashionable elements and an attachment member, such as a clip, hook, post, wire, or chain to hold the jewelry to a portion of a person's body.

As shown in FIG. 6, a belt loop 20 and a zipper member 22 use attachment members 23 to form hair ties.

Waistbands or hems are another option as a foundation material for chokers, cuffs, headbands, pocket designs, key chains, pendants, pins. Cuffs can be taken from existing cuffs of shirts or blouses and can also acts as a foundation piece of material.

Any and all other obvious modifications to one or more of the parts of this invention are inherently incorporated herein. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of making jewelry comprising the steps of: a. providing an existing piece of jewelry, said piece of jewelry including a fastener; b. separating said fastener from said piece of jewelry; c. cutting a piece of material from an existing article of clothing; d. attaching said fastener of said existing piece of jewelry to said piece of material from said existing article of clothing, thereby forming a new piece of jewelry; e. adapting said fastener to removably attach said new piece of jewelry to a portion of a person's body.
 2. The method of making jewelry of claim 1, wherein said existing article of clothing is chosen from a group of existing articles of clothing including a pair of pants.
 3. The method of making jewelry of claim 2, wherein said pair of pants is formed from a material chosen from a group of materials including denim.
 4. The method of making jewelry of claim 2, wherein said piece of material from said pair of pants is chosen from a group of pieces of material from said pair of pants including a zipper member, a waist band member, a belt loop member, a hem line member, a cuff member, a pocket member, a button member, a tag member, a rivet member.
 5. The method of making jewelry of claim 1, wherein said fastener is chosen from a group of fasteners including hooks, posts, wires, toggles, buttons, snaps, pins, screws, elastic members, combs, barrettes, plastic strips, and spring bands.
 6. The method of making jewelry of claim 1, wherein said existing piece of jewelry is a bracelet.
 7. A method of making jewelry comprising the steps of: a. providing an existing piece of jewelry; said existing piece of jewelry being an earring including a hook fastener adapted to be placed through a hole in a person's ear; b. removing said hook fastener from said earring; c. cutting a piece of material from an existing article of clothing; d. attaching said hook fastener of said earring to said piece of material from said existing article of clothing, thereby adapting said existing article of clothing to be removably attached to said person's ear through said hole of said person's ear.
 8. The method of making jewelry of claim 7, wherein said piece of material from said existing article of clothing is a belt loop.
 9. A method of making jewelry comprising the steps of: a. providing an existing piece of jewelry; said existing piece of jewelry being a necklace including fastener members at each end for removably connecting said ends together, and thereby adapted to be removably placed around a person's neck; b. removing said fastener members from said each end of said necklace; c. cutting a piece of material from an existing article of clothing; d. attaching said fastener members of said necklace to opposite ends of said piece of material from said existing article of clothing, thereby adapting said existing article of clothing to be removably placed around said person's neck.
 10. The method of making jewelry of claim 9, wherein said piece of material from said existing article of clothing is a belt loop. 